Our History

Arlington Wrestling had its beginnings during the 2004-2005 season when Coach Israel Cordero began the program at the Arlington High School.  The newly constructed high school had only opened its doors to students that same school year, and Coach Cordero saw an opportunity to build a high school wrestling program from the ground up using the knowledge he had gained over many years as a participant and as a coach.  From these humble beginnings, Coach Cordero developed a wrestling team into a Region Champion only four, short seasons later.   The club's most successful wrestlers are listed on The Wall and the wrestlers who have helped propel the program forward are listed on the Past Varsity Rosters.  Coach Cordero also wrote a brief history of the program from his perspective.

In the fall of 2008, Assistant Coach Ivan Pagan approached Coach Cordero with an idea to form a youth wrestling program that would grow the sport in the local area and, as an added benefit, feed the high school program with quality, experienced wrestlers.  Through this partnership, youth wrestling has grown tremendously in the Arlington and Lakeland area and the high school team has readily adopted its youth counterparts to both programs' mutual benefit.

Our wrestlers and our club are indebted to Coach Israel Cordero, Coach Ivan Pagan, Coach Matt Caskey, Coach Chris Nettleton and many others, along with the numerous club supporters, parents and board members.  Without their vision, determination, dedication and hard work, many youth and high school students would not have reaped the benefits that the greatest sport in the world has to offer! 

Today, the depth of the coaching staff serving the youth program has developed many young wrestlers who have later excelled in the high school program and at the state championship level. Head Wrestling Coach Jonathan Simpson continues the task of carrying on the tradition of Arlington Wrestling and guiding the program and our wrestlers to even greater success.  

The Tigers continued to progress this season, highlighted by a team first state runner-up and two state placers at individual championship.  The team did well during the regular season even they were again often short wrestlers at two or three weight classes.  Nevertheless, the team repeated again as Region 8 Dual and Individual Champions, their fourth consecutive championships.  The Tigers also maintained their position a top wrestling school State Duals performance by placing 5th.

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120 REED CANNON 1st State Qualifier, State Runner-up
126 CALEB MORGAN 1st State Qualifier
132 Luke Kerns 2nd State Qualifier
138 JUSTIN DONAHUE 1st State Qualifer

145 HARRISON PHILLIPS 1st State Qualifier
152 DALTON COCKMAN 1st State Qualifier 3rd State Placer
160 Josh Worley 4th State Qualifier

170 AUSTIN ANTCLIFFE 1st State Qualifier, 6th State Placer
195 JACK LEWIS 1st State Qualifier

285 Jon Worley 3rd State Qualifier

The Tigers continued to progress this season, highlighted by a team-record four state placers at individual championship.  The team did well during the regular season even they were often short wrestlers at two or three weight classes.  Repeat wins at the Region 8 Dual and Individual Championships were especially meaningful given the short-handed team.  The Tigers also improved on their State Duals performance by placing 6th.

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113 REED CANNON 1st State Qualifier, 5th State Placer
120 Caleb Morgan 2nd State Qualifier
126 LUKE KERNS 1st State Qualifier
138 HARRISON PHILLIPS 1st State Qualifier, 6th State Placer
145 Austin Baudoin 3rd State Qualifier
160 Austin Antcliffe 2nd State Qualifier
182 AARON MOORE 1st State Qualifier, 3rd State Placer
195 Jack Lewis 2nd State Qualifier
220 TODD ROATEN 1st State Qualifier, 3rd State Placer
285 JOHNATHAN METCALF 1st State Qualifier

Building on the changes made by Head Coach Simpson, the Tigers improved their record, added two more Region 8 championships (dual and individual) qualifying all 14 weight classes for the State Individual Championship.  The team further improved their finish at State Duals and placed another wrestler at the State Individual Championship.

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106 REED CANNON 1st State Qualifier, 6th State Placer
113 CALEB MORGAN 1st State Qualifier
120 Luke Kerns 2nd State Qualifier
126 Justin Donahue 4th State Qualifier
132 HARRISON PHILLIPS 1st State Qualifier
138 MICHAEL MOWERY 1st State Qualifier
145 Bailey Hulley 2nd State Qualifier
152 Austin Baudoin 4th State Qualifier
160 Nathan Laub 3rd State Qualifier
170 AARON MOORE 1st State Qualifier
182 Keith Dowell 3rd State Qualifier
195 RAY HARDIN 1st State Qualifier
220 TODD ROATEN 1st State Qualifier
285 Jonathan Metcalf 2nd State Qualifier

This season was historic for Arlington Wrestling in many ways.  First, a new head coach, Jonathan Simpson, took the helm from Coach Cordero.  Second, Arlington wrestling went undefeated in Region Duals winning Region 8 Duals Championship outright.  Third, Arlington Wrestling won the Region 8 Individuals Team Championship. Finally, Nathan Enzor, placed 6th at the State Championship, a first for any Arlington wrestler, ever.  Add to these accomplishments, Caleb Morgan was voted Freshman of the Year for Region 8, Andrew Zarshenas was voted Wrestler of the Region 8 Tournament and Nathan Enzor was selected as Wrestler of the Year.

106 CALEB MORGAN 1st SQ

126 Reid Cacaro 2nd SQ

132 ANDREW ZARSHENAS 1st SQ

138 WILL CRAFT 1st SQ
145 Bailey Hulley 2nd SQ

152 MICHAEL MOWERY 1st SQ

160 NATHAN ENZOR 1st SQ, 6th State Placer

195 Ray Hardin 1st SQ
220 Trey Claus 3rd SQ

285 Jonathan Metcalf 3rd SQ

This was a big year in ability and talent.  For years we had been working with the Arlington Youth Wrestling Club developing the youth talent in the area.  In fact, many of our former medalists had come from the Youth program.  But this year it really paid off.  Most of the team had come from the Youth program and we were able to start freshmen with experience.  We still had holes in the line-up and ended with a team record of 15-13, outscoring other teams by 500 points. We ended 4th Region Duals.  At the Region Individuals, we showed the talent level finishing 3rd.  After a snow delay, we qualified eight for State, with two others coming very close.  This was a new high for State Qualifiers.  We also had a new high for Region Champions with three: Andrew Zarshenas and Nathan Enzor, both juniors, had been dominant all season and finished in spectacular style. Even better, Andrew was voted Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament. Our other Region Champion, Bryce Dodson, was also voted as Freshman of the Year. Bryce was our first freshman Region Champion and came from the Youth program, as did Andrew.

120 BRYCE DODSON 1st SQ

126 Bailey Hulley 4th SQ

132 ANDREW ZARSHENAS 1st SQ

138 Will Craft 3rd SQ

152 NATHAN ENZOR 1st SQ

160 Matt Wideman 4th SQ

170 Ray Hardin 4th SQ

220 Kylan Gray 3rd SQ

At the end of the previous season, the team made a whole-hearted decision to improve and did it ever show. We worked hard in the offseason getting stronger and attending camps.  It paid of as our team record was 25-16 and we became District Champs for a second time.  We also placed 4th Region Individuals after some brutal wrestling.  We qualified six for State and again had two Region Champions: Cameron with his tilting style and Tyler Whitworth, who had become the heart of the team by keeping the goals of the team in the forefront.

126 CAMERON HALL 1st SQ

132 Andrew Zarshenas 3rd SQ

138 Alex Lineberry 4th SQ

145 Nathan Enzor 3rd SQ

152 TYLER WHITWORTH 1st SQ

160 Matt Wideman 2nd SQ

The season was a very tough one and there were many low points and challenges. We had a team Record of 11-22 and it showed, but the guys persevered, and stayedtogether, again qualified for the Region Duals by placing as District Runner-up.  Some of the wrestlers finally rose to their potential, allowing for four to qualify for State.  We again had a Region Champion in Cameron Hall, whose ability to figure out opponents during matches was uncanny.

120 Luke Cardwell 3rd SQ

126 CAMERON HALL 1st SQ

132 Alex Lineberry 4th SQ

145 Caleb Ellenburg 3rd SQ

This season began a run where we seemed to always have holes in the line-up.  Even with a team record of 14-16, we scored over 1000 points more than was scored on us. Meaning, individually we won the majority of our head to head matches. We also began traveling more to get better exposure, and it paid off.  At the Region Individuals, we had 2 Region Champions, with Hunter Badon becoming our first two-time Champion and Chandler Duncan becoming the first Arlington wrestler to qualify for State all four years.

119 CHANDLER DUNCAN 1st SQ

135 Caleb Kreiser 4th SQ

160 HUNTER BADON 1st SQ

171 Mason Moore 3rd SQ

285 David Holyfield 4th SQ

As the team matured, they improved, even though there were still some starting spots being filled by novices. Even so, the team had a record of 17-14 on the season. What was even more impressive was that we scored over 700 total points more than was scored on us. It just didn’t show on head to head results. We even came down to tiebreakers four times during the season. This was also the year we began going to Baton Rouge for the Deep South Bayou Duals, a knockdown, drag-out tournament that eventually would feature some of the best teams in the country.  We again qualified for the Region Duals and continued to do so.  At the Region Individuals, we had four Medalists, and from here on all medalists would qualify for the State Tournament.  We also had our second Region Champion in Hunter Badon, who always showed a unique wrestling style that would frustrate many.

119 Chandler Duncan 2nd SQ

130 Josh Robertson 3rd SQ

160 HUNTER BADON 1st SQ

285 Zach Bernard 2nd SQ

With the first class graduating, the team took a major hit in experience and the result was that we dropped to a record of 15-15. We began a rebuilding process that took a few years to truly achieve. This was also the first and only year that we did not qualify for the Region Duals.  Some of the wrestlers did have good years and showed promise, bouncing back from injury to compete and win.  But at the Region Individuals, we had our biggest moment ... Our First Region Champion, Andrew Sossaman. 

119 Chandler Duncan 3rd SQ

130 ANDREW SOSSAMAN 1st SQ

140 Ryan Walker 3rd SQ

145 Daniel Taylor 4th

With our first class of Seniors at Arlington High School came much success. Goals that had been set their freshman year were getting met and surpassed.  The team was undefeated in the district and drastically improved their record to 22-8, beating some of the toughest teams from across the state.  In a very closely contested match, these young men finally beat Collierville by criteria, becoming Region Champions and qualifying for the State Duals Tournament.  At the State Duals, we beat Blackman High School in the first round to advance to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, here we ran into the eventual state runner-up, Ooltewah High School. At the Region Individuals, we had 6 Medalists and five of them qualified for State, with Stefen and Preston returning to state.

112 Chandler Duncan 3rd SQ

119 Stefen Orozco 2nd SQ

125 Andrew Sossaman 3rd SQ

140 Preston Selby 2nd SQ

160 Hunter Williams 4th

171 Van Rieman 3rd SQ

Building on our previous efforts, we improved our season record to 10-10.  We also beat Bolton High School to place 3rd in the District.  It was our first year to have a full lineup at all weight classes and we definitely had an impact in the area.  At the Individual Tournament, we had three medalists with Stefen and Jesse Gill qualifying for State.

125 Stefen Orozco 3rd SQ

140 Ryan Walker 4th

160 Jesse Gill 3rd SQ

During this season we purchased a new mat and were able to get into the mat room. We had some home-style weights that had been donated by the parents. We were still wrestling a varsity schedule, finished 8-9 on the season and once again qualified for the Region Tournament.  The big win for this year was beating St. Benedict at home.  We also had Four Medalists at the Individual Tournament, with Preston and Stefen qualifying for State.

119 Stefen Orozco 3rd SQ

130 Preston Selby 2nd SQ

160 Jesse Gill 4th

171 Cody Conley 4th

The freshmen started in the fall working out with bricks, milk crates, and car tires.   As a new school and new wrestling program, we did not have much equipment so we purchased a very old, used hard mat from Houston High School. We had to use a classroom for training on the mat.  Although we had 14 wrestlers, we could not fill every weight class as we topped out at 171 lbs. (and only because Travis Bateman would wrestle up a weight class for his whole high school career).  We wrestled a varsity schedule, even though all wrestlers were freshmen, and still ended the season with a 4-9 record and qualified for the Region Duals Tournament.  A particularly humorous moment was wrestling against Ridgeway High School for their Senior Night. They had 8 seniors and most were rather large.  Sending our captains out, one of them being only 112 lbs., many of the mothers were understandably worried.  The results, as you might expect were pretty bad, but we did not get shut out. In fact, that only happened once in the entire history of the program and in was during this inaugural season against Cordova High School.  At the Individual Tournament, Stefen Orozco and Preston Shelby very nearly qualified for the State Tournament.